Alma Mater for the Late Dr. Baird

Yesterday was the Glee Club Campus Concert and in my opinion, we did great. More than my opinion, it matters what the audience thought of the performance. We received such rapturous applause and compliments from professors, family, friends and others from the community. I am truly grateful to have that much support from and I thank all those who came out and enjoyed our concert.

On a not so positive note, it was not easy singing the Alma Mater as we dedicated it to the late Dr. Keith Baird ’56. I did not personally know Dr. Baird, but I have had the pleasure to meet his son who lived with his family in Dr. Baird’s home here on campus. When someone with great significance to an organization dies, it is easy to overlook and forget that they also had a family. Dr. Baird’s passing is a loss to Wabash but an even greater loss to his children and grandchildren. That is what made dedicating the Alma Mater to Dr. Baird hard.

Dr. Baird was a physician for all of the Apollo missions except the first and last ones. This Little Giant was there when the Apollo 13 Capsule was recovered in the South Pacific and he gave a chapel talk about it. Dr. Baird was also the campus doctor for nearly three decades and always lived on campus. As a student, Dr. Baird was a four year member of the Glee Club and enjoyed attending the concerts.

This Saturday the Glee Club is suppose to sing the Alma Mater and Ave Maria at a memorial service here on campus. It will be even harder to sing in that environment and for the sole purpose of expressing his love and life-long commitment to Wabash. Wabash lost a true Little Giant this weekend. The Baird family lost a great Father and Grandfather. May he rest in peace and may God be with him.